10 Carli Lloyd Facts She Doesn’t Want You To Know

In the 6-2 win vs. Mexico match on April 8, Carli Lloyd scored her 100th goal for the United States Women’s National Team, thus adding yet another accolade to her already long list. The 35-year-old is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2015 and 2016 FIFA Player of the Year, and FIFA Women’s World Cup champion. Despite being strictly a midfield player, she’s a gold-scoring fiend.

You gotta remember her monster of a goal in the 2015 World Cup final match against Japan. From midfield, Lloyd pulled back her right leg and released a rocket. The ball soared in a perfect arc and settled comfortably into the back of the net after barely grazing the hands of Japan’s goalkeeper. It was Lloyd’s third goal of the match and also one of the most flawless in soccer history. With such an overall outstanding background, you must know of the New Jersey native; however, here are ten things you probably didn’t know about her.

1. Her stats have gotten better as she’s gotten older

Zlatan was once quoted saying, “The older I get, the better I get, like red wine.” He and Lloyd have this in common. Lloyd started out with the USWNT at 23, and by 30, collected 36 international goals. Since turning 30, in just five years, she has nearly doubled that amount with 64 goals.

5. She almost quit before she hit it big

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The current Houston Dash player came dangerously close to leaving the game in 2003. Lloyd was cut from the U.S. under-21 team which resulted in her losing her passion for the game. However, with her introduction to James Galanis, he helped change her mind.

If it weren’t for him, USWNT would be very different. He’s been Lloyd’s trainer since 2003, and the former Australian pro convinced her to continue with soccer. He founded the Universal Soccer Academy which saw talents such as Hope Solo and Heather Mitts.

As a successful pro athlete, it makes sense that Lloyd is an extremely healthy eater. She loves spinach salads and enjoys to grill organic meat or wild-caught fish. Though her guilty pleasure is Cinnabon or cinnamon sugar pretzels from Auntie Anne’s.

8. She was also an accomplished swimmer

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In addition to growing up playing soccer, Lloyd was also a swimmer. She swam until she was 18, and her best event was the backstroke. If she’s the Michael Phelps of women’s soccer, then Michael Phelps is the Carli Lloyd of swimming.

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9. She prefers to keep things low-key.

You would think on her days off, or to celebrate her constant state of winning (since she’s always winning something), she would be a party-goer, but Lloyd’s not about the nightlife. Instead of the bar, she prefers to just get a sports massage coupled with a mani-pedi. Honestly, though, I think she’s onto something.

Like most Americans, Lloyd is an avid coffee drinker. Nevertheless, this was not always the case. She got hooked on the caffeine grind after the 2015 World Cup when she was only getting around four hours of sleep a night.

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The former swimmer, current coffee-drinker can be described with many more adjectives. She’s one of the best female soccer players in the world, and though there’s a lot we now do know about her, we never know what she will be capable of next. Well, whatever it is, you know it’s gonna be awesome.